[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

OK, I’m a big Obama supporter, and have worked whole-hog on his campaign over the past 6 months.

I’m for him because of his opportunity to take the Country, Presidency, and tone of politics in a fundamentally different direction.

Further, I’m upbeat on our Ohio/Texas/Pennsylvania prospects based on our recent momentum, cutting into the Clinton support base and posting huge victories.

However, upon reading today that Sen. Clinton congratulated Sen. Obama on his recent victories, but said, "Tell him to meet me in Texas -- we're ready," I began to think more about her "Operation: Texas Firewall" and her comparisons with the California vote, specifically the Latino vote.

After doing a little research with "the Google", I found that Texas, with 228 Delegates at stake, poses several questions into the firewall hope.

• There is reason to think that the Texas Latino vote may not align like the California Latino vote, but may look like the Latino vote from Arizona and New Mexico, or even the Virginia Latino vote, where Sen. Obama actually outpaced Sen. Clinton among this key voting bloc.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Kenneth C. Burt

The current interest in the Latino vote, and the emergence of high-profile leaders such as Antonio Villaraigosa, might lead one to ask: How did it all begin? Who were the early leaders? Part of the answer can be found in Armando Rodriguez’s From the Barrio to Washington: An Educator’s Journey, which fulfills the stated goal — “to inspire” — while teaching us about a bygone era.

The trajectory of Rodriguez’s life is awe-inspiring. Born into a large family in Mexico where his mother neither spoke English nor wrote Spanish, he became the second Latino college president and an advisor to four U.S. presidents.

Rodriguez is the most prominent San Diegan of the Mexican American generation, the cohort shaped by the Depression and World War II. He was among the first large wave of Latinos to come to California’s state capitol during Governor Pat Brown’s tenure, reaching national influence in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

[Editor's note: Here in full is the memo received this morning from the Clinton campaign following the endorsement of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa showing the strategy, hope, and spin in winning the Democratic nomination for President on the strength of Latino voters, a large segment of the Democratic vote in California and the nation.]

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Mark Penn and Sergio Bendixen
DATE: May 30, 2007
RE: Hillary Clinton’s support among Latino voters

Today's key endorsement from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is proof that the Clinton Campaign's focus and strategy to win the Latino vote continues to grow stronger. Mayor Villaraigosa is one of America's great mayors and a dynamic national leader, who will play a key role in the campaign, advising on a range of policy issues that he focuses on every day as the mayor of America's second-largest city.